Campus Reopened

The campus will be open for classes and all other business Monday, Nov. 19 and Tuesday, Nov. 20 with a regular employee workday and faculty duty day (no classes scheduled) on Wednesday, Nov. 21. Updates at go.sjsu.edu/air.

As the oldest public institution in California, San Jose State University has a long
and proud history as a supplier of excellent higher education, a contributor to the
skilled workforce in the Bay Area and an incubator for innovations that have significant
local and global impact. Through the decades, our priority has remained the same –
to offer an exceptional and affordable education to all of our students so they find
success in their careers and become engaged citizens of California.

When our students receive a quality education and complete their degrees on time (e.g.
in four years for college-ready freshmen) they:

enter the workforce with valuable skills that are sought by Silicon Valley companies,
including in high-tech and business firms; government and public service; arts, literature
and entertainment; health professions; education and many other fields and industries;
and

provide the ability for new students to access educational opportunities at SJSU.

Once admitted, our students join a network of Spartans committed to supporting academic,
professional and personal success. Together, we should provide our students with a
clear and timely pathway to an outstanding degree. However, we often fail to live
up to this promise: for the student who starts the fall semester in need of college
readiness support in English and math; for the student who needs advice when advisors
are booked solid for weeks; for the student who feels disconnected from the campus
and drifts away; and for the student whose progress is blocked because a bottleneck
course is unavailable semester after semester. We acknowledge that some students opt
to take less than a full course load, with 19 percent of undergraduate and 37 percent
of graduate students enrolled part time in fall 2015. We also have a significant percentage
of students who work to finance their education, including 27 percent of freshmen
and 64 percent of seniors, according to the most recent National Survey of Student
Engagement. We can and must do better for our students, especially those who need
additional support on their road to success.

While we have made great improvements in six-year graduation rates, not all students
share the benefits of that progress. SJSU reported a six-year graduation rate of 56.8
percent in 2015, up nearly 10 percentage points in just the last few years. This rate
is on par with the national average for public universities of 58 percent, as reported
by the National Center for Education Statistics for 2015. The university’s four-year
graduation rates remain stubbornly low at 10 percent.

Graduation rates for underrepresented minority (URM – Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino
and Native American) students are increasing at a slower rate than non-URM students,
a national trend. SJSU's six-year graduation rates for URM students is 44 percent.
Read the Graduation Rate FAQ online for more details. Between 2003-2013, 77 percent of universities in the United States
increased URM graduation rates, but only 45.7 percent were successful in decreasing
the gap between URM and non-URM students, according to a report by the Education Trust that reviewed more than 255 institutions.

To lift our rates even higher for all students, the campus needs a unified plan to
guide our efforts so that we are all moving in the same direction. We need to come
together to find the greatest opportunities for improvement, the most important areas
for coordination and the most strategic places for investment.